When everyone shakes their heads clear of blackness and confusion, they're all scattered around a small valley, carpeted in thick, soft grass. The vale's sides rise to hills, above which hang cotton-candy clouds on a field of stark blue. Above that, the sky is black, stars and planets spinning around lazily.
Kyle is standing in his armor, with his handguns. The little girl also looks like Sailor Pluto, though after a second that outfit wavers, and she looks like herself, only dressed in a grecian tunic and sandals.
Everyone else looks as they did when they were in the trailer.
At the far end of the valley there's a robed figure, sitting atop a boulder next to a heap of smaller rocks. His hood is down, but his face is gaunt, and heavily shadowed. He looks a little surprised to see other people here, but not very alarmed. He doesn't rise, or reach for the staff leaning against the base of the boulder he's perched on.
Daniel's senses say that this gaunt, pale-faced man is not an immediate threat.
Sterling looks around for a moment, and then says, "Well. This is new."
Tim looks around for a few minutes, to see if he can spot anything familiar - it DOES remind him of the times he's met Pandora, but only in the sense that everything here seems almost too real.
"Okay, so we're... physically 'here'," Daniel gestures at the ground, "Not just comatose and waiting to be killed?"
Best to get that clarified before asking about the other resident of this place.
"Yes," Kyle says, looking at the newcomer oddly. "This is the horizon of eternity. The boundry where Dream leaves reality. I ... don't know who that is."
"He is not of the Brotherhood of Morpheus," the little girl says suddenly, in flawless English.
Kyle frowns at that, and rubs his chin thoughtfully.
Tim decides to take the direct approach. "Er... excuse me, sir, but who are you?"
"I am called Charrel," he answers, not really rising. "Who are you?"
"I'm Tim," Tim replies. "Sorry to be so abrupt, it's just been a really trying day. Are we intruding here?"
"Most likely not," he replies.
Tim relaxes a bit at that. "Can you tell us anything about where we are? We're kind of new here, at least most of us are."
Daniel coughs, glancing at Kyle and the as yet unnamed girl.
"No one I know," Kyle says quietly, shrugging. "This is just the concept of a place. I thought it would be empty."
Charrel raises an eyebrow. "It's not good for people who don't know what they're doing to go places they aren't familiar with," he says, smirking. "You stand at the boundry of the Dream and the point where reality ends. Beyond those stars," he explains, pointing upwards, "is the Enemy. Beyond that ... you're in the Dream. You'll learn the rest, I imagine. Being a Dreamer, I'm sure that Alan will look for you." He practically spits that name.
"O...kay," Tim replies. Not much to go on, but at least a bit more than before. "Um... thank you." He gives the man a quick nod before heading back to rejoin the others.
"So where do we go from here? Kyle, you probably know the most about this place - what are we supposed to do here? Just wait for a while until the soldiers leave and then go back, or are we staying for longer than that?"
Charrel grunts in reply, and vanishes in an explosion of flame. His boulder goes with him, and the topmost rocks from the nearby pile tumble off the heap and land on the ground.
"Well, getting out is trickier than getting back in," Kyle says. "We'll need time to set that up. I think we should look for Pandora. And then the Brotherhood of Morpheus."
"Sounds good to me. How do we find her, though? Do we walk, or is there another way to get from here to where she is?"
"There are other ways, but we're going to need to walk. Otherwise, we'll all get separated," Kyle says. "If you can, try to imagine something convenient for moving a lot of people really fast. Me and Phae are working pretty hard right now just to make sure we all remain in the same paradigm."
"I'll try," Tim replies.
With the thought of soldiers rather fresh in his mind - and bearing in mind the number of people they have to move - Tim tries to imagine something like an APC - spacious enough for everyone and able to move fast enough, if they can figure out where to move TO.
It wavers a bit, but as it solidifies, it becomes easier for Tim to concentrate -- noticing an feeling a connection between his will and the Dream around him. There's now a fully functional APC.
"That's pretty handy," David says, blinking in surprise.
"Cool," Daniel nods his approval. "So how do we do this? Is there any path we have to take or is it a 'mind over matter, all paths lead where you want to go' type thing?"
"Well, we've got an idea of where we are, and an idea of where we want to go. Let me try something."
Tim imagines himself as in one place, and Pandora's mountaintop in a separate place. In the same way he imagined the APC a moment ago, he tries to picture a path or road connecting the two.
As Tom realises what's going on, he eyes Tim's new.. vehicle.
"I've always wanted to drive one of those," he confesses. "This place is kinda neat. Freaky, and in a way-out-of-my-depth way, but neat all the same.
If you can change stuff here, though, and these are for sure our real bodies... kinda makes you wonder how much *is* real, eh?"
As everyone watches, the grass immediately before and beneath the APC turns into a wide dirt road, stretching across the valley, and over one edge of the valley. It leads away from Charrel's rock pile.
Kyle and Phae nod in approval, as Sterling and Jim examine the APC.
"Handy," Walker says. "Who's driving?"
Wallace eyes the vehicle and says, "I think I'm the only one with training to drive an armored vehicle. But I'm not sure if that really matters in this instance."
"Doesn't matter to me, but I think someone besides me should drive. Not sure how hard it'll be to hold everything together, so I'd rather not have the distraction of driving if I don't have to."
That said, he heads for the rear of the vehicle, climbing in and finding a free seat.
"Go for it," Daniel nods to Wallace, following Tim into the vehicle.
"I so call shotgun. If this thing has one," says Tom, heading into the vehicle, too.
Once everyone's piled into the APC (Tom sitting in the navigator's seat), Wallace starts it up, and it begins chewing up the distance between this point, and wherever it is that Pandora is.
The APC is quiet, and according to Wallace, has no fuel gauge. But it does move.
"Well, we're on our way to see Pandora. Hopefully she'll have some idea of where we can get started, other than just staying ahead of everyone that wants to kill us." Tim shakes his head a bit.
"I'm just glad we can take a break here without anyone trying to kill us," Daniel comments, stretching.
"Well, except, y'know... nameless horrors that lurk beyond the Dream. But I guess nowhere's perfect."
The trip is very odd. It's not really fast, or slow, and in fact, when no one does anything, seems absolutely timeless.
So everyone has just settled in for a long ride when the APC slows to a halt. "Uh," Wallace says, leaning forward and peering out the window. "Is this thing dragon-proof?"
Tim blinks. "I'd... um... I think so, but how am I supposed to be sure?"
"Well, you thought it up," suggests Tom. "If you think that it's dragon-proof really hard, then I suppose it is. Maybe you could, like, attach anti-dragon missiles too it.
Just what limitations are there here, anyway?"
"Imagination," Kyle says. "Will against will. A dragon might be a dream, or it might be a landmark. An old Dream that doesn't belong to a person, but an aspect of cultural or racial memory. Many cultures revere them, so it could be dangerous, and it could effectively be an illusion."
"They're usually harmless as long as you don't try and pick a fight with them, either way," Phae notes from her own seat. "What's this one doing?"
From his seat, Tom can peek out the APCs rather small window to try and see what's going on. When he looks outside, he can see a large black dragon with forelimbs, hindlimbs, wings, spikes all over its head, and fire pouring from its mouth. It's currently engaged in mortal combat with that creepy Charrel guy from earlier, and staff-boy appears to be kicking ass and taking names. Acidic green blood spatters wherever Charrel hits the dragon, and steel-hard scales crack beneath the blows.
"Getting hammered by that Charrel guy from just then," replies Tom, shrugging. "By the looks of things, if it wasn't harmless before, it will be after he's done with it."
"Keep moving for now, then, I guess," Tim offers. "We're not looking for trouble, so if they're occupied, might as well leave them to whatever they're doing."
Wallace shakes his head. "Freaky," he mumbles, as the APC lurches into motion once more. After a while, it stops again, and by Tom's point of view, the road ran out, revealing a rather long looking stone staircase.
"Good," Kyle says, visibly relaxing, and knuckling back a yawn. "We're in Pandora's domain." Turning to Tim, he says, "That dragon was probably a link to this place, which is why your path lead here. I'm not sure what that dark person would want with a dragon, but it's either a stroke of luck, or more ... coincidence." He smiles darkly at that, and opens up the door to the APC.
"Charming kid," Sterling mutters.
Tim clambers out of the APC, waiting for the rest of his companions to follow suit and get onto the stairs before allowing his concentration in holding both road and vehicle in existence.
Everyone piles out of the APC in short order. The mountain with the staircase is jutting out from a featureless expanse of desert that leads off into forever. The APCs tire-tracks appear to stretch back that far, but no one really remembers trundling across the desert for the hours it should have taken. Which is probably just as well.
The APC doesn't exactly vanish, but it does seem to just blend into the surroundings, and swiftly it's not a gleaming, new, very well maintained APC, and is instead some run-down old relic that's been here for ages. After a few eyeblinks, it's been gutted, and is just a shell. Then only a frame. Then a collection of rusty parts an an oilstain.
There's not really any remnant of the road itself. The desert probably swallowed it ages ago. Despite the fact that the desert can apparently eat APCs and time-compressing roads, it doesn't seem that uncomfortable. Dreams are odd things....
The mountains themselves are vast, rising up into clouds that hang overhead. The stairway doesn't rise to the level of the clouds, it just finds a pass leading deeper into the mountain before it vanishes from sight.
"I'm guessing this is where we're headed?" Jim asks, shading one eye from the light (where is the sun, anyway?) and peering at the staircase.
"Looks like it," Tim confirms. "This looks like the area where I met Pandora before; she'll be at the end of these stairs, most likely."
"It's a long walk," Daniel nods, shouldering his bag - and hoping it's not just some dream placeholder bag while his real one was left behind in that trailer - and starting the long hike up the stairs.
Bigfire stretches a bit, and begins the long march. Tim is constrained to mortal paces this time around, at least, for now. It's not tiring climbing up the mountain, merely boring.
After a bit, the top of the pass is reached, and the staircase turns into a level pass wedged between two sheer cliff faces, stone walls rising into the clouds above. In the distance, it looks like the path leads to another staircase, this one descending.
After traversing the pass, which is only a half-dozen meters wide, this is exactly the case. This new staircase leads down a short distance, into a valley sparsely populated with small trees and bushes. There's a tiny stream nearby, and the base of the stairs leads to a path that goes some distance into the valley. From here, multiple mountain peaks can be seen, above and around.
"I'm guessing Pandora doesn't get a lot of visitors," Carlos comments.
Kyle merely nods at this.
Tim pauses for a moment, looking around at the mountaintops to see if anything looks - or feels - familiar. Appearances may not do much here, since everything is so changeable, but some idea of which way to go would definitely help.
Nothing really leaps out to Tim as familiar. Some of the mountains look like they support switchbacks and other routes to their peaks, but layers of cloud keep the peaks themselves invisible.
However, the path appears to lead to a crossroads up ahead. There seems to be a signpost there, though it's too distant to be read from here.
Tim shakes his head a bit. "There's a crossroads a little ways ahead, might be able to figure out where to go a little better from there." So saying, he heads down the path for the crossroads, inspecting the signpost there as he arrives.
The sign is made from several wooden boards, both of which have been nailed to two old posts. One of them looks like it's nearly rotted through. The sign itself isn't painted or drawn, and as weathered as the sign looks, that's probably a good thing.
Carved into the boards is a rather cryptic message: "She who opened the box retains hope." Beneath that, there's a line reading, "East of the sun, West of the moon."
"Would it kill her to just say 'that way'?" Daniel asks irritably, pointing off in a random direction. "Can we even assume the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, here?" he then asks, looking up in the sky, "Since I don't really know any other way to figure out directions without a compass."
"No..." Tim has a faraway look on his face. "It's not that. It's like... trying to describe a direction you can't really name. Think about it - even in the waking world, what could be 'east of the sun and west of the moon'? Those directions don't apply to them." He thinks for a moment, then looks over at Kyle. "Is it possible to shape the Dream even in a place like this, where things already exist?"
"If you can't name it then just stick an arrow down," Daniel grumbles. "Bloody cryptic oracles are so overdone..."
"Of course," Kyle replies. "Your changes wouldn't last forever. But you could make them. The more static a place is, the harder it would be. But it's certainly doable."
"So if I can change the way things work here, even if just temporarily..." Tim pauses for a moment, and concentrates on the path ahead. trying to will it to be the one that leads to Pandora. "If I can fix it in my mind that the path directly in front of us is the one leading to Pandora, it should be, right?"
"That's reasonable," Kyle says, nodding. Overhead, a moon and sun rise, shining through the clouds. They move about for a bit before the sky dims, and the path directly before Tim seems to be lit -- practically glowing -- beneath the combined light.
"So it would seem," Sterling says dryly.
"If Hal could affect this world with his will... would that ability extend to us?" question Tom, musing. "Could other dreamers simple wish us to whatever they want, or are we.. bound in reality?"
"Your will will resist theirs," Kyle says. "And these things, anyone can learn to do. Dreamers are simply faster learners at it."
"Really?" muses Tom, thinking for a moment.
He tries to focus his mind to do something simple, like make a pair of gloves.
After a second of concentration -- instant gloves. Of course, now everyone else has to try it. Jim's got a rather intimidating jacket made of interlocking metal plates, Sterling ends up with an even more wicked looking combat knife, and David and Carlos both end up with hollowed out cocoanut-halves with straws and tiny collapsible umbrellas in them. Walker seems satisfied to make his somewhat battered looking samurai armor cleaner, though the effects only last as long as he thinks about it. Ryan makes a sandwich.
Kyle and Phea don't seem to fabricate anything, but the situation doesn't really demand anything. After a little experimentation, all of Bigfire but Jim allow their creations to fade away.
Tim chuckles. "If we're all done, shall we go to see Pandora and see about getting back to the real world?"
Once the others have finished experimenting, he nods and strikes out on the path that he imagines Pandora to be at the end of.
As everyone else does their experimentations, Daniel attempts to imagine comically oversized sombreros atop everyones' heads. Except his.
Not like he actually needs anything, here. But everyone else could surely do with something nice, and everybody loves sombreros!
The sombrero trick works, but requires a bit of thought to maintain. Except for Walker's. He doesn't let it go.
Jim pulls his low, and bumbles into Carlos and David before they make him look where he's going. In short order, Tim's path leads to a staircase. It looks familiar, actually. Rather like the one leading up to this place. Above, it vanishes into a cloud.
"Promising," David says, pushing his sombrero back for the moment and peering up the side of the mountain. "It's a good thing you don't get tired in dreams."
"Maybe we can imagine an escalater?" Daniel suggests, reluctantly ceasing his concentration on the Mexican theme for the party.
"If you want to try it, go ahead," Tim replies. "I don't know how long I'll need to stay focused on making sure this is the right path, though. It's hard to understand how this place works exactly - I mean, I can see how to 'change reality', but I'm still not sure how permanent the changes are, or how much effort I need to use to keep them in place. Hell, I'm not even sure that 'permanent' means very much, here."
"It doesn't really matter, since we don't get tired. But it might be a bit faster..." Daniel considers, attempting to will the stairs into a reasonably quick escalater.
After a bit of thought, the stairs lurch and shudder a bit before becoming a smoothly operating stone escalator. In minutes everyone is zooming into the cloud, and suddenly break out onto the landing that Tim and Daniel recognize. This is certainly the right way, though further attempts at accelerating the stairs yeild no results.
Also, the sombreros and Jim's coat have vanished, much to the dismay of Walker and Jim.
Tim lets out a sigh, smiling a bit as he recognizes the landing. "Finally, I know where I am. We've arrived, gentlemen."
Everyone stops and looks around. Finally, Sterling opines, "So ... this is kind of desolate for someone to live in."
"Are we looking for a person?" David asks, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
Walker and Carlos look around. Ryan just sits down -- he still seems tired from that earlier teleportation.
Kyle snorts, and Phae shoots Sterling a smirk before glancing uphill.
"Aw, you mean we get to walk up even more stairs," Sterling grumbles.
"At least it's only boring," Mark says. "It could be hard. Or painful."
Sterling rolls his eyes. "Pain and difficulty don't mean much to me, but yeah, I guess my friends aren't being hurt."
"Yeah. Pandora should be just at the top of the next set of stairs," Tim confirms. "I'd guess it's about another half a mile, roughly."
"Well, let's get hiking, then," Daniel announces, hefting his bag once more and starting up the next batch of stairs.
"Good times," Wallace murmurs, as the trudge begins.
Or would.
Daniel and Tim zip straight to the top of the staircase in a handful of steps.
Everyone else apparently has to walk the hard way. And wouldn't you know it, it actually becomes strenous (mildly) for once.
"Huh." Daniel stops, rather surprised. "Practice makes perfect? Guess we should go back and try to keep pace with the others..." he comments, very carefully trying to make his way down without falling and tumbling down the mountain at impossible speeds.
It's not clear if Daniel could fall if he wanted at this point. It's practically as though only five of the hundreds of steps on the staircase actually even exist for him, the rest simply stretching out of the way. It works the same way for Tim, though both discover that with concentration, they can restrain themselves to mortal speed.
"I love walking," mutters Tom, trudging up the steps. "I don't need no superfast teleportation trick, no-sir. Walking uphill half a mile is *fun*!"
Continued 'witticisms' are a constant as he steps onwards.
"Who's teleporting?" Tim asks, zipping into 'existence' next to Tom with a grin. "Come on, it's only a few dozen steps, what are you grumbling about?"
Tom eyes Tim. "A few dozen steps- of pain and torture!"
"Aw, man, I missed that," Sterling says, sighing. "Remember when we were in the E-Tournament?"
Walker shakes his head grimly. "These things have not happened. The memory erasure was successful," he says.
"That was the game you guys played in before all this happened, right?" Mark asks. "The one you got the 'Bigfire' name from?"
"Actually, we got it from an anime," Carlos says. "But yes. Brian liked the name, and got everyone else into it, so we named ourselves that in the game."
"And then in the real world once normality went on vacation," Jim supplies.
Ryan nods wordlessly.
"Anyway," Sterling continues. "The point is, I missed the precious gem that people like Tom are. He reminds me of Brian, actually."
"Ah," Walker says nodding. "The smart one."
Sterling shrugs at that, and says, "Well, I was going to say chronic whiner, but really, I guess Brian was way bitchier."
This elicits a snicker from Wallace.
"Yeah, Mr. Rat definitely fits that description," Tim says, giving Tom a smirk. "Although in his case, it was usually bitching at Dune to post."
"I have you to blame for that," grouses Tom. "There was a time when it wasn't necessary for me to prod him. But nooooo! He had to run multiple games!
Anyway, maybe you and Dan could go on ahead. See what's what, you know. For all we know, this could be an endless staircase that never ends unless you have permission, or something stupid like that. Hell, even if it's not, just get to the top and stop mocking me with your continued presence."
Tim smirks at Tom. "But your company is just so much more enjoyable, Tom. Are you saying you don't WANT me here?"
"You're like a beam of sunshine on a cloudy day," Carlos says, patting Timon the back. "Also, we're now at the top. I believe this qualifies for a Nelson?"
Jim then points at Tim and immitates a familiar laugh: "Ha-hah!"
Mark rolls his eyes and looks around. The top of the staircase leads to a small auditorium, almost. It's only about two steps down, and roughly circular, lined with pillars and supporting the framework outlining the shape of a roof without actually being a roof.
In the center is Pandora's floating silver sphere, though she herself is not currently visible. The orb appears to be filled with smoky mist of some sort. "Finally," Kyle sighs. "Dragons and stupid wizards, and then a hike up all this mountain."
"Pandora, are you there?" Tim says, approaching the sphere. "Got a bit more company this time around."
After a moment, the mists are disturbed, and Pandora emerges from the mist, though she seems a bit surprised to see as many people as there are waiting.
She spells out in golden letters against the side of her sphere: "It is good to see you again, though I did not expect you to enter the dream. What has happened?"
Daniel looks a bit relieved to see Kyle complaining about all the trouble it took to get here. Makes him feel more secure in his own complaints.
"Hi, Pandora," he waves, once close to the sphere, briefly peering at her message. "We kind of had to come into here so we could escape the army that was about to do unspeakable things to us. Hope you don't mind us dropping in for a bit."
"Not really," she writes back. "I seldom get guests. I should be following the reality more closely, much of what you discuss surprises me. But at the same, we need to get you back into reality and out of the dream as soon as possible -- you can die from being here too long, and then be unable to return to Earth. This would be especially bad with ... all of the anchors here. We run the risk of severing the dream from reality."
"Oh. That sounds bad," pipes up Tom, observing the messages closely. "Exactly how, I'm not sure, but dramatically bad, all the same."
"That's what we came for," Tim agrees. "Kyle said you'd probably know how we CAN return to reality from the Dream. Whatever it is we need to do, just tell us and we'll do it, or at least give it the best shot we can."
"You'll need to be helped out with more power than brought you in. Since I'm trapped in here, there's not much I can do to help ... but if you find the Brotherhood of Morpheus and ask them, I'm certain they can send you back." The previously written letters begin to fade away quickly, until only her current message remains visible.
"How exactly do we find them?" Tim replies. "At least in coming here, I knew what we were looking for. I'm not sure where or how to start looking for them."
"They'll probably look for you," she replies. "But ... they have a bastion set up. If you can think of the image of this person...." She draws a circle, which quickly fills with the image of a very gristled and wiry looking man, probably in his late thirties. He's carrying a spear with a golden point (gold must have some symbolic value in dreams), and a bright yellow headband. "If you can find your way to him, he can lead you to the bastion. And then they will fetch me away from here ... and we can get you out."
"I'll do my best," Hal replies, taking several moments to familiarize himself with the image. "We'll come back here once we've found them. Thanks for all your help, Pandora." He gives the oracle a smile and a nod, then closes his eyes and tries to focus on the image of the wiry man in gold.
"Exactly how it sounds bad was the part about us dying," Daniel points out to Tom grumpily.
Tim is relatively certain he could find his way to this person. It'd probably even be easier than finding Pandora. Of course, he'd probably need to get down to at least the crossroads before he could make a new path easily.
"Okay, I think I can find him," Tim confirms. "Should we all go, or just a few of us while the rest wait here with Pandora? Or does it really make a difference?"
"I don't mind sightseeing," Daniel shrugs. "But I dunno if it really matters who goes or not."
"Probably best to stick together," Wallace opines. "We don't really know a lot about this place."
"Works for me," Tim says with a nod. "We're going to have to head back to the crossroads, though; I don't think I can make a path from here."
"Well, now we get to walk all the way down," Jim says speculatively.
"Bring on the chorus!" Sterling calls out, one hand clapping Tom on the shoulder companionably. "We'll just start the complaining here so tha--" And then, as Sterling takes a half-step down the stairs, he's gone.
An instant later, he comes back.
"You've unlocked zip-mode!" Carlos suddenly says, blinking.
"Uh ... apparently," Sterling replies, marveling at the step.
"I guess it works for everyone the second time," Daniel opines. "Unless you're a special magic dreamer-type. Then it works on the first," he adds, nodding to Tim.
"Hey, Pandora, it'll be okay if I leave my bag here, right?" he asks, dropping said item by her crystal sphere.
"This place is static," she replies. "Though. I couldn't stop someone from taking it. I might be able to talk them out of it ... but only you've come by in the last few decades."
"Um... I'll trust your powers of persuasion, then," Daniel nods brightly. "Hopefully I won't take that long, anyway..."
With that, he heads to the stairs and zips down to the landing.
"Guess the return trip will be a lot quicker then," Tim confirms.
I wonder... is it just being familiar with the path that makes it faster?
With that thought, he heads down the stairs after the others.
It's the work of literally seconds to reach the crossroads. Jim and Walker spend a minute or two just playing with their newfound speed before Sterling tells them to stop playing with the fundemental rules underlying the local reality, at which point they stop.
Unfortunately, the crossroads sign still indicates Pandora, not the old guy Pandora sent everyone after.
Tim takes a few moments to study the crossroads - if this is some sort of 'junction' from which he can establish paths to and from various parts of the Dream, having a good clear picture of it might be very useful.
"Okay, let me give this a try," he announces. Closing his eyes, he recalls the image of the man in armor, trying to create a path from here to wherever he might be - just as he did when trying to find the path to Pandora.
A path manifests slightly above the ground, probably about a meter wide, and a half-dozen centimeters thick. It spirals up into the clouds, widening slightly as it rises, and vanishes out of sight.
Kyle seems mildly taken aback. "Soon, you'll be able to just teleport people around," he says, nodding in aproval.
"Hey, Boss," Jim says from the base of this spiraling path. "You think this'll take my weight?"
"Or mine?" Wallace asks, prodding the base with a toe in an exploratory manner.
"It will if we all think it will, right?" Daniel suggests. "Mind over matter and all that."
"If I'm making it, I say it will," Tim says, giving a slight grin. "I'll go first, though, since I'm probably the lightest here."
So saying, he hops up onto the spiral, beginning his ascent into the clouds.
"We all know how to make a parachute if we have to, here, right?" Daniel confirms, before following up the skypath.
The spiral seems to hold, though, as Daniel rises, his view gets increasingly fogged on the sides, like the cloud were being drawn to him. Carlos and David experimentally trod on the spiral, and it doesn't seem to waver or crumble in the slightest.
"A parachute? How 'bout a helicoper? Or, like, a Tie Fighter?" replies Tom, nodding. "Your ears will crumble!"
Tim glances back at Tom. "You fail Make Sense. I should have Drac run you through an ECB."
Tom gives Tim a flat look. "Anything but that," he deadpans. "What next? You'll spam my AIM with warning signs, and kickban me from IRC channels? Good heavens!"
"I wish I could," Tim grunts. "Hell, anything normal would be a nice change at this point. Mocking you personally will have to do for now."
"I tout that normalcy is overrated," replies Tom, nodding. "My life used to consist of coding and dealing games of blackjack. Now, I get to feel heroic! It's totally sweet.
Apart from the constant threat of death, but I'm getting used to that. I think. I wish."
"I'm not," Tim replies, shaking his head. "The only reason I'm this relaxed is because half of me wants to insist this can't be real, even though I know it is. I can't seriously be making roads and paths and armored cars with my mind - but I'm still doing it. It's just... surreal. I keep wondering if I'm going to wake up, almost EXPECTING to wake up, but I know I won't."
Tom shrugs. "Well, yeah," he says, lamely. "I'm just trying to ignore the fact that it's impossible. The boundaries that we knew don't really apply anymore, and I figure it's better to get used to that than try and fight it."
"I'm not going to fight it, it's... well, it's like it's happening to someone else. Displacement activity - my mind's trying to compensate by putting off the immediate problem on 'someone else', just that that someone else is still me."
He shakes his head. "It'll hit home soon, but for right now I'll let things go on as they are. I'm just hoping I get enough information to make some sense of things soon."
"Amen to that. My modus operandi is 'follow people who look like they know what they're doing'," quips Tom.
Tim snorts. "And my motto's been 'Always look like you know what you're doing.' People will usually believe it - and oddly enough, it actually works most of the time."
"But I know the horrible truth," muses Tom. "As things stand, though, apart from those two,"- he jerks a finger at Kyle and Phae- "You and Daniel are probably the most in-the-know about this place.
Which makes you it in reality and name, eh?"
"Seems that way," Tim agrees. "I'm still not totally clear on what I'm supposed to do as a 'dreamer', but damned if I'm not going to try to find out. Once we're not in danger of dying, though. Questions can wait until we're all safe."
At the level of the clouds, the path levels out, though the mists obscure everything but the path ahead. After a few more steps, they obscure even that, and everyone stops.
Before anyone really has time to think about it, the fog suddenly lifts, revealing a clay path through what appears to be a murky bog. The mists remain, but now are far distant, and easier to see through. The sounds of croaking frogs and buzzing flies fill the air, but none can be directly seen. Trees rise in scattered clumps, but a few meters overhead, branches thick with spiderwebs and dark hanging moss obscure all but glimpses of a darkened sky filled with shining jewel-bright stars.
It feels almost like being in a fable. Or a really well rendered Pixar flick.
"I feel expensive, somehow," Jim muses.
"Why do I get a suspicious feeling about this?" Tim says with a slight frown. "Either way, looks like the only way to go from here is forward."
That said, he concentrates, forming a short staff with a bit of focus, using it to test the solidity of the path ahead as he takes the lead.
Tom hangs around next to Tim, pondering the limits of the situation.
He tries to imagine himself floating a little above the ground, and hovering forward instead of walking.
"I'm just winging it," Daniel admits cheerily to Tom. "But hey, normal life is just so passé. And I bet chicks will dig the whole saving the world bit."
Tom unsteadily bobs in the air just over the ground. Tim has a stick of road-testing, though no tiger traps are immediately visible.
Everyone looks around for a bit, but no dragons, monsters, creepy guys, or explosions seem to threaten immediately.
Tim strikes out down the path, using the stick to make sure the path ahead is solid - in a bog like this, it's possible that it could look solid and yet not be - but that's probably true of anywhere in the dream, really. Nevertheless, he feels a bit better for taking the extra step of making sure as he proceeds down the path.
Daniel slows down enough to let Tim keep ahead and do his bog testing thing. Not that he really feels it's necessary, here - or even guaranteed if the local environment can change on the whim of a strong-willed dreamer.
But there's no harm in it.
The group proceeds down the path for some distance, as it gradually curves to the left. After passing the curve, it straightens out, rising slightly over the bog a meter or so. The foliage overhead is thinner here, allowing for glimpses of constelations, and a blood-red moon.
The fog appears to thicken further ahead, as the trees thin.
"Charming place," Carlos says.
"Beats Mexico. Or America," Daniel shrugs. "Nobody shooting at us, or anything like that."
"You'd think they didn't want visitors or something," Hal says wryly. As the group proceeds on, he tries to see if he can do anything to dissipate the mists a bit - getting separated in the fog would not be a good idea.
It seems beyond Tim to make the fog dissapate ... though while he's thinking about it, it doesn't seem to thicken anyway. From ahead, the sound of a shout carries, followed almost immediately by an inhuman, piercing wail, which echoes for a long moment before silence falls. The frogs and crickets of the bog cease their songs, amplifying the sensation of quiet, as everyone's ears strain in an attempt to make out what's going on.
Mark quietly draws his sword, and Walker does the same.
Tim tightens his grip on his staff, frowning slightly. "Definitely not the welcome mat," he opines.
He halts for a moment, letting everyone else draw even with him.
"Creepy," Daniel nods in approval, seemingly unperturbed. And he's not, really. It's just a dream, after all!
Everyone stops behind Tim, looking around and trying to see or hear some hint about what's going on ahead.
Tim maintains his concentration on the mists; even if he can't diminish them, keeping them from thickening further is a definite improvement. He slowly starts off down the path again, still using his stick to prod the path ahead for anything out of the ordinary.
Other than the occasional gnarled root which protudes above the surface of the path at a good height to trip someone, the path seems clear. As the group progresses, they can see that the ground beneath their path is wider than the path itself now. It seems that the path is a gradual slope, which widens further still up ahead. A stone wall of some kind, which looks like centuries worth of rocks and boulders heaped into a line lies ahead. There's an archway made of two ornately carved grecian colums, supporting a cracked and ancient keystone across them, which the path leads through, and it appears to be the only gap in the three meter high pile of stone. Not much can be seen beyond.
Daniel heads through the archway, sure that something interesting lies ahead! "Think we're near to our guy?" he asks the group in general.
"I think 'Near' has a very loose definition here, but for what it's worth, yeah," replies Tom, bobbing forward like a drunk.
On the opposite side of the archway, the path opens into an arena, a wide circular clearing of hard-packed dirt. Trees line the periphery, but in the center, there's a man in ancient greek-styled armor, weilding a spear against a horse-sized two-headed dragon.
The man seems to be faring well; one of the dragon's necks is bleeding. Nearby, another man stands, wearing similar (gold) armor, and carrying an identical (gold) spear. His back is to the group, but at a glance he has the same build, hair style and color, and identically patterned gear.
Tim stays well out of the way for now, not wanting to distract the men. Likely they're some of the Brothers of Morpheus, but better not to distract them or get in the way while they're occupied.
Tom keeps to the edge of the arena, leaning against one of the trees as he watches the proceedings. "Don't see that every day," he mumbles.
The man in gold glances briefly at everyone, and then scowls. "My memory," he says, turning back to watch the fight. "Please don't interfere."
Tim nods, holding his position at the edge of the arena-like area.
"Hey, carry on. Nothing to do with us," Daniel holds up his hands in a placating gesture, keeping off to the side with everyone else.
The man and the dragon...ling... circle, apparently oblivious to their audience, when the man suddenly lunges, stabbing his spear through the tough hide on one of the thing's necks. His spear plunges in deeply, and blood gushes out, prompting that head to rear back and scream in pain -- the shout is loud, and distracts the man from the other head's bite, which severs the man's left arm at the shoulder.
From there, the battle is grisly, and short. One-armed, the man is only able to mortally wound the dragon before it spits some green goo on his face, which smokes like acid, and prompts the man to scream in pain before the dragon stomps with one clawed foot on his chest, silencing him forever. Or maybe only temporarily, actually.
The man's spirit (completely intact) rises from his body and takes up armor and a spear of gold, before fading away. The dragon sits there like a statue for a moment, and then simply vanishes.
Sighing, the remaining figure turns to look at the group, revealing that his facial features are identical to the man he just watched die. "What ... brings you into the dream?" he asks tiredly.
"Trying to get away from trouble," Tim says, shaking his head at the man's demise. "Pandora sent us to find you, said you might be able to help us get back to reality."
"Pandora?" he asks, a bit surprised. "Today is a day for the unexpected. I should take you to Alan -- follow me." He turns and begins striding across the arena. As he does so, the body he left behind fades away into nothingness.
At the opposite end of the arena is an archway identical to the one everyone passed through to get as far as they have.
Hal follows along behind, nodding. "Whatever you think is best; we're just trying to find our way back to the real world as soon as we can."
Daniel follows along amiably enough. Really, the sight of this man's poor identical twin being brutally slain by a hydra or whatever has little effect when it's all just a dream, after all.
It's no doubt some big symbolic thing, that's all.
"I can," he says, as the archway fills with mist. He steps into it, and vanishes. The mist is noticably thicker in the archway, as compared to over the walls adjacent to it.
Daniel follows the man into the misty arch teleporter thingy!
On the other side of the wall of mist, everyone finds themselves standing on a circular island, about thirty meters across, and edged in gold-colored bricks. Beyond the bricks lies only the sky, and islands floating overhead suggest that there may be some distance between here and ... whatever lies below. The island is covered in grass, not stone, and a grassy path arches to a nearby island, this completely capped with a grecian styled building. A plume of water rushes down from overhead, landing within the interior of the building, and at a glance, that's the source of mist you emerged from.
Another pathway leads to a building that's identical, except for the lack of a waterfall pouring inside it from a spring in a floating island overhead. The man who you followed is walking across this pathway, away from the island you're on.
Tom floats after the man, trying to gain more control over his levitation-fu, because it's really neat to go places without touching the ground.
Tim follows, using his staff as a walking stick. He does survey the surroundings with some curiosity, however; a floating island is a rather nifty concept. He does wonder how much of an effort it takes to maintain this place, though, or if it's one of the static places within the dream.
A few other people are visible jogging across distant bridges. No more than three, though, and even those only glimpsed. "This is the home of the Brotherhood of Morpheus," the man explains. "I am Len of the same. I recognize our Dream within some of you." He steps into the building, which is much more dimly lit than the current area's bright daylight.
Inside, once everyone's eyes have adjusted, there's a multitude of chairs (enough for everyone) which look to have been carved from independant stumps. One of them is behind a table (littered with papers and what looks to be a small inkstone). On the wall immediately behind the desk is an open window to nothing, over which hangs a moist-looking clay tablet. It's currently blank.
"So," he continues, reaching for and pulling down the clay tablet. "Is there anything you'd like? Maybe a drink?" He scribbles a hasty note on the tablet with a stylus, and a response is written back by some unseen hand. Both smooth themselves into the clay almost immediately after being etched. Despite the fact that it was written in ancient Greek, it was legible to everyone: 'Alan, can you come to my office? I've got guests.' and 'On my way.'
"No, thanks," Daniel shakes his head, leaning on one of the nearby chairs. "Not much point eating in a dream, after all."
"A drink would be good, thanks," Tim says. A dream this may be, but he's still physically here, and it's been a long trip. While it hasn't been physically demanding, a drink would still be nice.
"I'm just glad I managed to find you," Tim says. "I'm still getting used to this Dream stuff."
"Fair enough," Len says, shrugging, and taking his seat behind the table.
A minute later, a man in gold armor that was probably inspired by an anime (the shoulderpads alone!), and who has a halbard strapped to his back strides in. He takes a half-step, blinking as he views all of the people gathered, then he collects himself, and steps to one side. He's got a helmet hanging from the elbow of his armor, leaving his hair hanging low on his back.
Behind him, a much shorter person in a cloth-of-gold T-shirt and jeans strikes in, with black hair sticking in all directions, like he'd just woken up. His eyes widen a bit at some faces as he looks around, and he says, "Dude! You guys died? Weak!"
Sterling and Walker gape, and Jim stutters out, "Nick? Are you non-dead now?"
Len's eyebrows rise at this, and he exchanges a glance with the unnamed man, who then coughs, and says, "Greetings, Bigfire, and welcome to the domain of Dream. I am Alan."
"How the hell did you get here, Nick?" Sterling finally asks, ignoring Alan entirely. "I thought Sean killed you!"
"He did. I'm a ghost. A dream-ghost. It's funky, and yet, functional," Nick says. "But, uh, my boss needs to talk to you, dude. Let's catch up later, alright?"
Sterling nods, and then Sterling and Nick do something incomprehensible involving knocking fists together, shaking hands, and high-fiving. Then Alan turns to look at Nick expectantly, and Nick coughs meekly, retreating to stand behind Alan.
"It's all yours, Boss," he says.
"Thank you," Alan says dryly. "It's an interesting coincidence to run into familiar faces, then. I sense that some among you are Dreamers ... and two at least are Anchors."
Tim nods. "Kyle and Phae are anchors, yes, and I've been told that I'm a dreamer, or at least have the potential to become one. Pandora sent us to find you - Kyle and Phae helped us physically enter the dream to escape from a virtual army in the real world, and now we're trying to figure out how to get back there."
"You were running from an army?" Alan asks, surprised. "Well, no. I don't need to know the details. I can try and send you back, but ... my aim isn't that great, honestly. If you can do us a favor, we'd be able to do what you needed, though."
Nick scowls at Alan, but adds, "We can't really do much without your help first, though. It should be pretty easy."
"Pandora's been lost to us for a long time," Len chimes in. "If you could lead us to her, and then, possibly allow those Anchors to help us bring her back here, we'll be able to see where the safest point to drop you off is."
"Of course, it's not good for you to remain in the Dream in this form for long, so, time is of the essence," Alan completes.
"I don't see any problem with that," Tim replies. "I was able to make a path to her before, so I don't see any reason why I can't do the same thing again. Seems like a fair enough trade to me."
"Well, Pandora recommended you guys to us, so I doubt she'd have any problem with that," Daniel nods amiably.
"Neat how everything is just falling in to place," mumbles Tom.
"Ah, ahaha! Yeah, she'd be thrilled with that, most likely."
Tim glances over at Tom. "We WERE warned that coincidence is right out the window at this point."
"You ARE aware that that doesn't make it any less weird," shoots back Tom, shaking his head.
"Weird is becoming a way of life," Tim replies, shaking his head.
"Tell me something I don't know," replies Tom, *continuing* to shake his head.
Daniel shrugs, before turning his attention towards Nick. "So, dead, huh? How's that work?"
"Hey, I prefer to consider myself 'corporeally challenged'," Nick replies. "Other than that ... I get around. And dream-chicks are usually way hotter. Or catgirls."
"Anyway," Alan interjects. "Some of you may want to stay here and catch up with Nick. Len and Saul will accompany whoever among you will show us the way to Pandora."
Sterling hesitates, but then decides, "Well, I'll go. If something goes wrong, I'll live through it, after all."
Carlos, Jim, and Walker want to stay and catch up with Nick. Kyle and Phae are going to speak with Alan. Wallace, Mark, Sterling, and David are willing to head back to Pandora. "After all," Mark reasons, "she's only a few minutes walk away."
"For us, maybe. Seems like folks that haven't been down the path to meet her yet don't get to go so fast."
Tim looks around at his companions. "Are we ready to go, then?"
"Hold on," Daniel nods to Tim before going back to Nick, "So is this the afterlife for everyone or do only special dreamer types wind up like this when they bite it?"
It's kind of an important thing to know, for future reference.
"Well, if you're aware of it, you can choose to end up here when you die. Otherwise you'll usually just get spun into the force of creation. You become raw Dream," Alan explains.
"For a company with plans that don't actually offer coverage until after you die, it's good, though," Nick supplies.
"Well, that's comforting... I guess," Daniel nods. "Not that I'm going to go out of my way to die or anything," he hastily amends, "But it's nice to know.
"Anyway! Let's go find Pandora!" he declares, making to join the others heading back in that direction.
"Right," Len says. "You'll be leading us?" he asks Tim. "The waterfall room should provide a good medium if you want to change the venue quickly."
"Sounds good to me," Tim agrees. "I I HOPE I can get us back there without having to walk this time, at least - or at least to the crossroads."
Kyle DID say I could move people from one place to another, after all...
Tim is able to lead everyone into the blinding whiteness of the mist. When it clears, everyone is on the landing just above the cloud-cover at the base of Pandora's peak.
Len is joined by Saul, who looks a little smaller, and much darker, but is dressed the same way. Saul carries a kopesh instead of a spear, however. The two of them begin jogging up the stairs everyone else can now zip up.
Tim sticks to mortal speeds, pacing Len and Saul as they head up the stairs to Pandora's peak.
"How long has Pandora been missing, anyway? She mentioned that she'd been separated from you for a while, but not how long."
"We'll, uh... see you guys at the top, then," Daniel comments to the two brothers of Morpheus before zipping up ahead of them.
Len and Saul are fast, and quickly reach the top of the mountain. Both of them seem quite pleased to have found the sphere. Len approaches Tim, and says, "Watch closely."
Then everything goes dark. When light comes back, everyone is standing in what looks like a Brotherhood of Morpheus building (though, they probably don't have a monopoly on the 'floating island' thing; the arcitecture-style is identical). Pandora's sphere is sitting there, now hovering just over the stone floor.
"Uh... hey! My bag!" Daniel does not look pleased with this turn of events.
"It had all my stuff in it!"
Saul points to the other side of the sphere, where the bag is caught and hanging from a sconce on the wall.
"Ah, good," Daniel nods, suitably mollified and going over to collect said repository of all his worldly goods.
"So, Pandora, how're you liking your new home?" he asks, returning to the sphere-bound Oracle. "Not as nice a view, but I guess it has its charm..."
Pandora arrives after a moment, approaching the surface at a point where she can see both Daniel, and Saul. She sketches quickly on the surface of her sphere in gold letters, "A change of pace is welcome. I knew this was inevitable, but waiting in isolation ... well ... more isolation than normal for aeons grew tiring."
"Greeting, Oracle," Len says, smiling. "It's good to see you again."
"And you," she writes back.
"Now, on to business," Saul says, glancing over his shoulder briefly. "So. We need to get these people back into reality. Alan needs your help to aim them. Where should they go?"
"I've discussed this with Relm," Pandora replies. "We should send them to her. To New Delphi." Turning to look at Tim, and then Daniel, and then Tom, Pandora explains (her previous text scrolling up the sphere and out of sight), "New Delphi is the home to the Order of Symmetry. They've got a ... program ... where they try and protect people with powers who join their cause. It's not much, but it's where I would suggest you begin your search for ... whatever it is you seek next."
"Alan's on his way," Len says after a moment.
Daniel blinks. "I thought the Order of Symnetry was extinct, and it was just those other two groups that were left?" he asks, confused.
"And who's Relm?"
"Right now, making sure we're back in reality is good enough for me. If you think it's a good idea to meet with the Order of Symmetry, I'll trust you - you haven't led me wrong yet, even if I still don't completely understand what's going on. Will I be able to get back in touch with you after this, though?" Tim asks.
"Well, they came back into existance while you were here," Pandora writes, somewhat apologetically. "You've missed months."
Daniel stares open mouthed for far too long. "Months?! We've barely been here five minutes!"
"...months? How many months?" Tim seems a bit stunned as well.
"And now you know why it's not good for you to be here for too long," Pandora writes, shrugging. "As long as you've been near me, or the other Brothers of Morpheus, we've scaled your time relatively to be near the time it would be in reality."
"Right," Alan says, entering the room, followed by Kyle and Phae. "Now, I can send you back to reality, but while you're here, you should probably take advantage of your opportunity to ask Pandora some questions. I'm not an oracle myself, but at a guess ... it may be a while before you get another chance like this."
"Haven't we just spent like a week on this conversation alone?" Daniel asks, slightly panicked. "My God, the world's spiralling to oblivion and we're trapped in some relativistic time dilating nightmare!"
He comes down from his drama kick with a sigh. "Okay, that's Monday done. We'd better make this quick."
"Might as well, yes," Hal agrees.
"Question one, then. Who or what exactly is the Order of Symmetry? You mentioned them before as a 'dead' movement, and if you're sending us to meet with them I'd like to know a little more about who they are and what they want."
"And where's, like, this New Delphi place? And who's Relm?" chimes in Tom, eyeing his watch with some skepticism.
"The Order of Symmetry is a group we're allied with currently to try and sway the outcome of the Contest. Essentially ... three factions compete to decide the fate of the world. The Order is only one of these, but they further belief in the Dream. The others would either destroy or ignore it, so we ignore them.
"They're currently lead by a group of five people who escaped from a covert facility designed to experiment and study people with paranormal powers. In order to fight their former captors, they joined the Contest. At least, that's how Relm tells me.
"And Relm is the current Oracle of Delphi. New Delphi is currently located in Alabama."
"Every answer seems to bring more questions," intones Tom dramatically.
"So who're these other factions, then? And what do *they* want to do? Not to mention that I don't have a clue what this Contest is about..."
"Okay, seems fair enough. As long as THEY'RE not interested in trying to kill us for some reason, anyway, but I expect there's no way to know that without getting back to reality and meeting them in the first place. Just hope we can make a good first impression, I suppose. But if you trust them, that's a good sign - at least to me.
"Now, when you say that Relm is the Oracle of Delphi, do you mean the same oracle from back in the classical Greek period? And why would she be named Relm? The only time I've ever heard that name was in a video game that came out about ten years ago."
"Don't forget Rez's alternate nick," quips Tom. "The way things are going, I expect to be stabbed with icy needles tonight."
OOC: Because it had to be said.
"She's named Relm NOW," Pandora writes, underlining the 'now' for emphasis. "In the past, she bore other names. And she is an iteration of the original oracle, if not exactly Cassandra herself."
"Sorry, misunderstood that part - I'm still new to all this kind of thing," Tim says, scratching his head a bit. "Is there any advice you can give me as a dreamer, if that's really what I am or am supposed to be? Since you're in the Dream, I suppose you - well, all of you," - here he looks at Alan and the other Brothers - "would be the ones to talk to about that. I guess if I learn to dream myself here I can ask you later, but something tells me there aren't any guarantees."
Pandora hesitates, and then looks to Alan. Alan smirks, and says, "The truth to the Dream is the root of power over it. You understand the precepts -- here, will defines reality. Expand on this in your meditations, and you will understand that you can control reality.
"Right now, your control over it is unrefined, and uses more of your strength than it needs to. Your meditation and focus will allow you to refine your touch and your perception. You can establish a foundation and a basis ... some would call it a mythos or a theme. And by building on that, you can effect reality without the strain of simply willing it to be otherwise," he concludes.
"And when in doubt, don't be afraid to ask us for assistance. The fastest route to learn the dream is experimentation. Of course ... this can be dangerous, so with guidance, you might learn more quickly in relative safety. Or take your time and achieve a more thorough understanding of the dream," Saul supplies. "That choice is yours."
"Woah," Sterling says, as he and the rest of Bigfire return, Kyle and Phae in tow. "You guys went all grim. And hey, I like the new spot for the oracle. Seems a bit more accessible."
"How can I contact you in the future?" Tim asks. "I assume I can place myself in the Dream without too much trouble, but do I just seek you out the way I have been up to now?"
"Well, imagine a cell-phone," Nick says. "Or a PDA, or whatever you'd like. Then just think of it as a way to contact people. Put in a number or e-mail address for someone, and then give them a call."
"Awesome," Jim says. "This is going to be so useful."
"Sounds like a plan," Tim says with a grin. "I guess that covers things for me then. If I have any other questions, I'll be able to get in touch with you later for clarification. Unless anyone else has questions, I'm ready to go."
"So, the plan is to hook up with the Order of Symmetry, and help them save the world or something?" asks Tom, looking sideways at Hal.
"Well, yeah, I have a couple of questions. I'm... still not honestly sure what we're supposed to be fighting. Or how we're supposed to go about it. If the Order can tell me, that's great, but I'd really like to know now."
"It's difficult to explain," Pandora begins. "The Contest is used to determine the fate of reality. If something isn't done, then the Enemy will invade. To prevent that, we seek to balance the Dream against reality."
"But we probably shouldn't keep you here much longer," Alan says. "Say when you're ready to return."
"I guess that's true," mumbles Tom. "Yeah, I'm good to go."
"I'm ready to go as well," Tim nods. "Like I said, if we come up with more questions I can come and ask you later.
"That said, is there anything we need to do to send ourselves back, or will you take care of it all?
"We'll handle it," Alan says, as everyone's view begins to distort, as though from extreme heat. Everything wavers into incomprehensibility, and when it fades, everyone is standing on a dirt road.
There's no trees nearby, but the road is atop a ridge that runs towards a mountain, and then back to ... a properly paved road. It looks to be about two miles back to the highway. No cars are currently in sight.
There's probably a town city in the mountain, a tiny smudge of smoke is visible from it. This place, unlike the dream, feels real. And you can tell because your entire body feels like it just woke up, all pins-and-needles.
Sterling, Walker, and Carlos seem unaffected, everyone else twitches a bit, then waits for the sensation to stop. Right now it looks to be a bit before noon. The air is fresh, and a heavy cloud cover promises either rain or snow later today.
Tim stretches, getting the kinks out, then nods to his companions. "Good to be back," he opines. Taking a minute or two to stretch (it does seem oddly like he's been asleep for a long time), he starts towards the smudge of smoke. "Time to find out who this Order of Symmetry really is, I suppose."
"Well. A few months, eh? I wonder who won the.. um... some sporting event?" says Tom, lamely.
"Uh, yeah, let's start walking before it starts raining."
First things first, Daniel checks to ensure all his worldly possessions are still... in his possession. Yeah.
"At least the world hasn't ended, yet. Of course, everyone we know will now be pretty certain we're dead. But, so it goes..."
A breeze rises as Tom starts heading towards the town. All of Daniel's possessions are intact, and most of Bigfire spends a few minutes getting the kinks out of their muscles before following Tom.
The road is worn, and has two ruts in it. They might have been deep, and the road does sport a lot of weeds, but someone's filled the wheel-ruts in with gravel.
Out of curiosity, Tim tries to see if he can fashion another staff to use as a walking stick. Kyle seems to have the ability to fashion items in the real world, and he's theoretically learning the same ability, so it's worth a try. And no harm done if nothing happens, either.
Tim is able to manifest a sturdy looking walking/clubbing stick. It seems weighty, and real.
This causes David to raise an eyebrow, but then he scowls, and produces a knife from thin air. Then another knife. Ante raised, he looks at Tim expectantly.
Tim rolls his eyes and continues his hike down the path.
Daniel shakes his head at the interplay between Tim and David. Just wait until next time we're all about to die. Then I'll be able to show off my cool superpower!
In the distance, as the path rises, a number of what look to be quickly assembled houses come into view. They all look to have come from a kit -- the same kit. Ten houses are built, and another is partially assembled.
The street isn't in view yet, but the dry air and dusty road suggest that they're empty.
"Trippy," comments Tom. "It's like a street in London. All the buildings are identical."
Tim snorts. "Haven't been here long, then. Pandora was right about them not being revived for very long. Wonder what's special about this place, though?"
"Well, if they all have odd powers and whatnot, anywhere they decide to set up shop becomes 'special'," comments Tom, wryly. "But I guess we'll find out the real reason soon enough."
"Wonder where everyone is? Everything LOOKS abandoned, but there was something making smoke up here before. Think they saw us coming?"
"Wouldn't surprise me," replies Tom. "If I was in charge, I'd have guys watching around. They're probably wondering who the hell we are and if they should blow us up."
"Makes sense, I guess," Tim nods. "If they're opposed to the same guys who've been after us, I can see a dash of paranoia being very healthy."
"Yeah. Still, it's too quiet," comments Tom, looking around. "Hey, can you create an air-horn?"
"I could try to, yes," Tim replies. "I'm not going to, though. If we're trying to make a good first impression, acting like a pack of drunk teenagers isn't a good start."
"True. I wonder just how much stuff you can manage, though? I guess you'll be playing around with that when you get some spare time anyway, huh..."
Tom shrugs. "Eh. Eheh."
"Probably will, yeah," Tim agrees. "Finding a place and time to get settled first would be a major plus, however. But something tells me that an APC in the real world is out of the question, at least for right now."
"Yeah. Now we need something completely non-threatening.
A volvo. Summon up a volvo."
Tom nods. "I'm not driving, though."
"Why a Volvo? Wouldn't that be MORE threatening? I mean, you run it into things and the car acts like a tank. Wouldn't something like, oh, a Civic be less threatening?"
"It might be more threatening if your evil grandma drove one, or some such," replies Tom, shrugging. "A Civic.. I guess. Maybe a Beetle or a Mini? In bright yellow with a smiley face on the front?
Our numberplate would have to be 'BIGFIRE', which might cause some alarm, though."
"A Mini would be cool, but if I make it, you're the one who gets stuck with the crowbar trying to wedge everyone into the back of it." Tim smirks.
"Eheheh.
Hey, what about a Bus? The Happy-Funtime Birthday Bus? That could work. It could have all stripy colours and that.
Hell, how many months were we out? I hope I didn't miss my birthday."
Tom looks quite concerned, at that.
"Well, if this is Alabama I'd guess we're in summer sometime," Tim replies. "Cooler than it'd be in Texas, but way too warm to be winter or spring with the way the weather's been."
"So.. that'd be June-Julyish? I hope not August. Especially not after August 17th," comments Tom, who is then silent for a moment.
"This could either be a great boon or a horrible tragedy."
"I wouldn't be expecting a huge birthday party this year, Rat." Tim shakes his head, but with a smile. "Unless you want to invite the NSA to the party. I'm sure they'd have LOTS of presents for you."
"Hey, it doesn't have to be huge," replies Tom. "We can keep it discrete. Head to some kareoke bar. I'm not that horrible at singing.
Besides, I wonder if the NSA is even still looking for us. We probably jumped the radar of alot of people.
Five minutes ago. Geez. Crazy."
Tim makes a face of mock agony. "Karaoke... ugh. YOU might not be bad, but unless we've got the bar to ourselves... I'll pass. I can just imagine a bunch of drunk middle-aged men trying to sing old disco songs." He shudders theatrically.
"We can hire a room," replies Tom, blanching. "They have private boxes and stuff. It's all good. Hmm..."
Tom starts singing a little under his breath (not too loudly, of course.)
o/"Ooooh mama I'm in fear for my life / from the long arm of the law.o/"
Jim begins singing along with Tom.
Carlos and Walker roll their eyes, the rest of Bigfire ignores it. Kyle is now carrying Phae (again), as she passed out the second everyone got back to earth.
Tim just covers his face with one hand.
"I do NOT know these people, I just met them on the road... yeah, that's it..."
This thread now moves to My Village is Number One (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=54695#54695).